A New Patent from Sony Further Suggests PS5 Backwards Compatibility

By all accounts, it seems all but confirmed that the PlayStation 5 (which technically still doesn’t officially exist) will feature backwards compatibility. However, a patent recently registered by Sony suggests just how serious the company is on this feature. Not only is Sony looking into backwards compatibility with the PlayStation 4, but it looks like it also wants to have backwards compatibility with every PlayStation console that came before it.

According to the patent (which is in Japanese, of course), this system will allow the CPU of the PS5 to “interpret” the inner workings of the four previous PlayStation systems. In a way, the PS5 would essentially replicate the functions of its predecessors. This will allow programs made for these systems to run as best as they can on the Sony’s newest console. It was designed as a way to look for potential errors in the synchronization process, and promptly eliminate them.

Based on the patent, the feature was spearheaded by none other than Mark Cerny, who was the lead architect of the PlayStation 4. If the PlayStation 5 does feature backwards compatibility, it would be the first PlayStation system to have the feature since the first model of the PlayStation 3. Now that the Xbox One has backwards compatibility with both the original Xbox and the Xbox 360, it’s definitely nice to see Sony fully committed to the feature, too.

Even though we don’t know anything official about the PlayStation 5, we definitely know it’s coming. However, despite the fact that most of Sony’s first-party studios are supposedly shifting focus to the PS5, it seems that Sony’s not ready to reveal it quite yet.

Would you want to see backwards compatibility on the PlayStation 5, especially if it was with every past system? Let us know!